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Wave Goodbye to Resume Clichés

Have you noticed the chasm between your proven track record and excellent communication skills that your résumé proudly touts yet does not stand out? Since your responsibilities do not include measurable, identifiable, or understandable skills, your résumé says everything, but “Hire Me!”

Sure you possess outstanding oral communication and writing skills. People may have told you that you can write, but you spelled communication with one “m!” The potential employer that is screening hundreds of potential candidates can attempt to talk to everyone that says you can write. Then again, the proof is right in front of him. Don’t worry, UPS is hiring for Christmas.

Perhaps you provide exceptional customer service, and everyone loves you so much that they don’t write you letters of appreciation, and never tell your boss how impressive your service was. How would an employer know other than to take you at your word?

A résumé that has typos like everyone else among 1000 resumes for 1, 2, or 3 positions would just be a lottery pick. Great for the state lottery, and the NBA draft, and for a job, right? Of course, the HR manager would rather file through lame resumes than circle the Bermuda Triangle or remain entangled between the Scylla and Charybdis.

Just to pick anyone who is generally qualified, your possible, potential, and dream employer will pick the résumé that had a clear focus combined with begging, pleading, and whining. The mixture of nonchalant-desperado-attitude-kind-of-employee would be a perfect fit.

I am impressed that you are the boss when the boss is gone! Tell me, how hard is it to decide to pass all difficult customers to…your boss. Or your boss’s boss? Or your boss’s, boss’s, boss? After all, all the those calls are appropriately transferred to upper management, and we can only guess they were 10, 100, 1000 a day.

All of this sounds good. Will employers pay you enough money since you can change water to wine? That is gleaned, guessed, and extracted from the vagueness provided from your document.

No other words on a resume fit better than provide, manage, handle, ensure. How many keywords can really fit for the career that you want?

Don’t worry, numbers don’t matter. Quantity, quality, cost/time results or measures are only for those CEO positions. When you write on your résumé you were a leader, or a manager, and neglect to mention who you led or how many, a hiring manager see that you have done the job already. If you were a little more misleading and vague, applying for Czar, Pope, or King of the Jungle would be a great idea.

Resumes that trigger more questions than answers will get you that interview. Hiring managers supposedly have a high tolerance for ambiguity. That’s how they earn the enormous bucks, by their proven track record of circular filing your excellently communicated resume.

Got an opinion? Comment below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market. Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search. Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

by Mark Anthony Dyson 1 Comment

Is Your Job Search the Best Drama Not On TV?

Potential employers do not want your drama you bring during your job search. They want nothing to do with the stories, the characters, nor the ending. They want to know, are you an asset to the team.

Bringing drama does not add value, nor does it make anyone an attractive candidate. Nor does it make for an effective job search.

Your adventure in job search is compelling drama for all of the wrong reasons:

1. It’s like Law and Order

There is a story for everything. Instead of calling my boss to meet you, I want to call the police. The “my-brush-with-the-cop” stories are funny to your friends, not to potential employers. You do not have to mention “cop” or “police” in your little ditty for anyone to know that you were arrested a few times.

2. CSI (Can’t Stand Idiots) New York, Miami, or Where You Are

Mark was making small talk about exquisite dining and the research he conducted online about all of the restaurants he has visited. The interviewer asked, “So what did you find out about our company as a result of your research?” The morrow: Talking too much could be the beginning of an implosion. Oh yeah, the interview lasted 10 minutes.

3. The Mentalist

Don’t act like you know everything. Networking works when you are in learning mode. Button your expertise, but wear your perpetual learning suit in a job pursuit conversation.

4. Burn Notice

Telling stories of being treated unfairly, or how unrewarded you have been is career suicide. Nothing worse than burning yourself during the job hunt process.

5. Brothers and Sisters

Leave family drama out of any part of the job search process. It is never positive to talk about family problems at a networking event, interview, or just meeting a potential contact for the first time. Even if the story is funny, it could be perceived as negative.

The most engaging conversations anyone could have when the focus is on skill, contributions, and solutions. Familiarity and small talk is great if its your strength. Otherwise, leave the drama to television, movies, and your friends.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson 5 Comments

The Changes, Challenges, and Chores of the Unemployed

Whether a job seeker has chosen to be unemployed, or is a victim of downsizing, no one is perfectly prepared for the imminence of the mental, emotional, and spiritual warfare. There is no way to predict the outcome of how life will continue because of the fluctuation of today’s job market. There is movement now, but pundits predict it will not last long.

Starting something and not finishing is a frustrating mission for anyone, but many job seekers will not seek an improved quality in fear of starting something he or she left unfinished–ultimately unemployed for a length of time.

The ambitious people will want to get many things done, but not the right things. Therefore, the universe and the stars should align if the objectives are clear, and the spouse does not harass you about fifty other household chores he or she likes done upon arrival from work.

Changes

Now that time is in your hands, there are things left undone when you were a slave to the work rhythm. It is natural to feel loss, and mourning is a natural response to being unemployed. For many job seekers, the bulk of emotional support was from coworkers.

Since, the access to them will be diminishing (especially if you are married with kids), transitioning to exclude them from daily contact is a significant change. As the infrequency of contact becomes noticeable, the realization of detachment can be heartbreaking. There are some practical steps you can take to help you move forward:

Less contact is good, unless the working is hooking you up with contacts, networking opportunities, or valuable job finding information.

2. Do not let yourself be trapped by office gossip. You have better things to do with your time.

3. Share positively, be informative, and support is reciprocated.

Challenges

There will be intrinsic and extrinsic factors that will cause conflict for job seekers with families while unemployed. It is even harder if both partners are out of work, and looking for jobs. Good communication is a work-in-progress, but is difficult to forge and formulate. It takes time and honesty to share and clarify goals, needs, and wants. Marrieds with children have the hardest time deciding who will sacrifice his or her career, and whose schooling is the priority.

There mistake couples make in communicating is each person’s perception of the one conversation. Since feelings and priorities change like the direction of the wind, discussing each step often is critical to protect each other’s feelings. The challenge again is honesty about how you feel:

How do you feel about your partner’s efforts to look for a job? Do you trust his or her approach to finding employment? Is a he or she missing opportunities because of a lack of effort?
Do you feel that your partner should take the first opportunity offered? Do you want your partner to hold out until the best opportunity comes along? Do you totally trust your partner’s judgment?
What is each person willing to sacrifice? Salary? Time? What should each person’s role be?

Chores

People who I have coached, mentored, or trained have problems in being late lack organization. Job-related document, or an appointment, he or she has contracted the “late bug.” If a person looks like an episode of “Hoarders,” then there is a problem.

Hearing through the tone of, “…he’s unemployed for a reason…” is unfair, but unfiltered as unfair.

A life in disarray will result in a life enslaved by chaos. Not that anyone would get there on purpose, but there are signs that appear if it has not already:

Forgetful of everything such as car and home keys, passwords, cell phones, phone numbers.
Finding house duties, and job search responsibilities, hard to prioritize in the same day.
Not handling criticism well, nor invite input

Does your partner have a problem with your disorganization? With time on your hands (if you are out of work), this would be the best time to organize everything. Finances, job-related information, clothes, personal identifying documents, credit, and living are best cleaned and organized to help relieve the stress of unemployment, and for your peace of mind.

Unemployed. This too, will pass.

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

About Mark Anthony Dyson

About Mark Anthony Dyson